Nineteen lawyers leave Morgan Lewis in Paris for another firm

Nine partners and 10 associates at the Paris office of Morgan Lewis & Bockius are leaving to join the French law firm Gide Loyrette Noue.

The group includes Morgan Lewis’ Paris managing partner, Anne Tolila, report Legal Week, the Lawyer and the Philadelphia Business Journal. Only three partners will be left with Morgan Lewis in Paris after the move, the stories say.

A Gide press release says its acquisition of the prominent lawyers “shows the attractiveness of Gide” and strengthens its international capacity in mergers and acquisitions.

Morgan Lewis gave this statement to the publications: “The practices of the departing partners, although well respected in Paris, were not consistent with the needs of our clients and our firm’s global focus. We believe that this departure is in the best interests of all concerned, and we wish our former colleagues well in their new firm. We maintain our presence in Paris with partners and associates in the corporate, litigation and intellectual property practices.

“We will also continue to build our firm’s global presence as we have through our recent expansions in Moscow, Almaty, London and Dubai, and in practice areas such as energy, finance, private funds and litigation, so as to best serve the needs of our clients.”